Is Hell Bad for Believers?

M

Mickmeister

Registered Senior Member
Last night, my wife and I were listening to black metal music. We got to talking about the satanic messages that it conveys a lot of times. During our conversation, I said that I couldn't understand why someone would be satanic, knowing the pain and suffering they would incur in hell. She pointed out that because I was raised Christian, I was still looking at hell from their viewpoint. She used to know a few satanists and they explained it to her. Apparently, hell is viewed as a place where a person can do anything they want, not as a place "hell" Thinking about it, we do always view it from a Christian viewpoint, not from a non-religious ideology.
 
Many modern "Satanists", moreover LeVayian Satanists, are more like Atheists. They do not believe in heaven or hell. Nor do they believe in a literal God or Satan. To many, God and Satan are merely concepts which represent the human characteristics of certain behavior. I am not a Satanist or Christian, but I have done some research on the subject.
 
Mickmeister said:
.... She used to know a few satanists and they explained it to her. Apparently, hell is viewed as a place where a person can do anything they want, ...[/quotre]

Now doesn't that sound like heaven to you? To do anything that you want? How could that be viewed as any kind of "hell"?

Mickmeister said:
...., we do always view it from a Christian viewpoint, not from a non-religious ideology.
Click to expand...

First, who is "we"? Second, there's billions of people on Earth, and my guess is that most of them have varying ideas about heaven and hell. "We" view heaven and hell from a Christian viewpoint, but others might not. The "we" is a difficult thing to grasp.

Baron Max
Click to expand...
 
Perhaps the most widely held perspective of hell is of a place where one is punished for eternity through pain and torture. This perspective has been enforced by many evangelists over the centuries as a means to recruit more members to Christianity.

A number of threads here have attempted to explore what the bible says about hell and there have been few conclusions. Even the definition of hell is controversial.

The one I rememebr the best is from Revelations that talks about two deaths where the first is hell and here it means the grave where everyone goes at first whether you are good or bad. The second death occurs after judgement and is where your soul is cast into the lake of fire. This concept is often confused with hell (the grave) and the terms have become interchangable.

But there is further confusion where the bible is unclear. Is the soul destroyed by the lake of fire or does it continue to survive but suffers eternal torment? In the gospels the implication is that if you want to achieve eternal life then you must believe in the savior Jesus, the alternative of course is that you will cease to exist, but revelation talks about eternal torture.

As for Satan I have seen many interpretations for this character. A popular view, and largely unsupported by the bible has him as the king of hell where he is the torturer. But in revelations both Satan and death are cast into the lake of fire implying that satan is destroyed along with all those who deny Jesus as their savior.

In real life why would someone follow satanist ideas? I guess it depends on how one wants to define satanism. There is at least one cult of satanists who follow hedonistic ideals, i.e. personal pleasure is paramount. But it is certainly not about doing harm to others but about being honest with oneself.

But the most common pespective is that satanists worship the devil and are only interested in doing evil. I'm not entirely sure what satisfaction can be derived by sane people by doing that and following such beliefs.
 
Mickmeister said:
Thinking about it, we do always view it from a Christian viewpoint, not from a non-religious ideology.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. Myself, I'm not religious, but I have investigated various religions and philosophies.

To me, hell is simply the worst-case scenario I can think of, and this is independent of an individual religion.

Also, to be noted that one person's idea of hell might be some other person's idea of heaven, and vice versa. For example, the way many Christians describe heaven - to me, their heaven would be my hell.
 
Hell is an invention for the mere purpose of scaring people; most ignorantly scared people do anything they are told in order to "avoid the threat", somehow like programmed zombies.

It is like God is saying: "Do what I say or I´ll send you to eternal suffering, but I love you".

According to the same source of the concept of "hell", God is love, and how can love send you to eternal hell because of some temporary stupid shit you did? That is some idiot-proof logic right there.

Hell is just a perverted creation from the teachings of reincarnation, because life is a set of insatisfactory circumstances (hell). But the thing is, each of us is an architect of our own life, meaning most people create their own hells on Earth.
 
Nope. Hell is Hell and all those who do not accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are going there. Except the Jews. They're God's chosen people. I'm leaving them alone.
 
You know, humans have been around for 250 million years or so, the Earth for about 4 billion, and 2,000 years ago before the printing press, God sends his means of redemption to a small backwater of the Roman empire, and intends to torture anyone for all eternity who doesn't accept this act of vicarious redemption? Sounds basically unfair and immoral to me.
 
Last edited:
sandy said:
Nope. Hell is Hell and all those who do not accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are going there. Except the Jews. They're God's chosen people. I'm leaving them alone.
Click to expand...

I believe Jesus was an enlightened master, who being misunderstood by the ignorant "religious people" was crucified by them. Basically the same type of judgemental religious people still exist under the disguise of Christianity and every other religion for that matter.
I believe that the people who go to church are just going for other people to see them, not because they want to go and "talk to God", they don´t even trust in God; if they trusted God there wouldn´t be a reason for going to church in the first place. They are just frightened of going to hell and from the device that is fear, they are manipulated.
I believe that churches are just what Jesus was all against, saying that the only real temple is not made of stone and wood, but of flesh and bones. I believe that you can talk to God by yourself, without the need of a "fake intermediary", and even without the need for words. Just the feelings of gratitude and love are some of the most true prayers of all.

Am I going to hell?
 
Wisdom_Seeker said:
I believe Jesus was an enlightened master, who being misunderstood by the ignorant "religious people" was crucified by them. Basically the same type of judgemental religious people still exist under the disguise of Christianity and every other religion for that matter.
I believe that the people who go to church are just going for other people to see them, not because they want to go and "talk to God", they don´t even trust in God; if they trusted God there wouldn´t be a reason for going to church in the first place. They are just frightened of going to hell and from the device that is fear, they are manipulated.
I believe that churches are just what Jesus was all against, saying that the only real temple is not made of stone and wood, but of flesh and bones. I believe that you can talk to God by yourself, without the need of a "fake intermediary", and even without the need for words. Just the feelings of gratitude and love are some of the most true prayers of all.

Am I going to hell?
Click to expand...

if hell does exist, we'll get to party together! lol
 
We have been created diseased, by a capricious despot, and then abruptly commanded to be whole and well, on pain of terror and torture. That sick joke is one that we can cease to find impressive, that belongs in the infancy of our species, and gives a false picture of reality that we would do well to outgrow.
Click to expand...
Christopher Hitchens
 
Wisdom_Seeker said:
I believe Jesus was an enlightened master, who being misunderstood by the ignorant "religious people" was crucified by them. Basically the same type of judgemental religious people still exist under the disguise of Christianity and every other religion for that matter.
I believe that the people who go to church are just going for other people to see them, not because they want to go and "talk to God", they don´t even trust in God; if they trusted God there wouldn´t be a reason for going to church in the first place. They are just frightened of going to hell and from the device that is fear, they are manipulated.
I believe that churches are just what Jesus was all against, saying that the only real temple is not made of stone and wood, but of flesh and bones. I believe that you can talk to God by yourself, without the need of a "fake intermediary", and even without the need for words. Just the feelings of gratitude and love are some of the most true prayers of all.

Am I going to hell?
Click to expand...

Yes. If you don't get saved before you die. :eek:
And it's NO party. :eek:
 
sandy said:
I'm not scared. I fear nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Faith is not fear.
Click to expand...

Then stop trying to scare non-christians with the idea of a hell. Just because that is what YOU believe, it may not be what everyone else believes. Let people have thier OWN religious freedoms.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top